Blank-feeding mechanism.



I A. CALLESON. BLANK FEED|NG MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT- 27. I912.

Patented June 6, 1916. 3 SHEETS-SHEET1 INVENTOR,

- WITH/8858 'A. CALLESON.

BLANK FEEDING MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED SEPT- 21, 1912.

INVENTOH, \mos Qqflasou s'r WIT/158358 WITNESSES A. CALLESON.

BLANK FEEDING MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED SEPT- 27, 1912.

Patented June 6, 1916.

HEET 3- 3 SHE I ATTORNEY,

rrnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AMOS CALLESON, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 BENJAMIN ADRIANCE, OF

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

BLANK-FEEDING- MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 6, 1916.

To (ZZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Amos CALLESON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Blank-FeedingMechanisms, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to apparatus for successively removing sheets,plates, and the like from a stack or pile thereof, and it consists incertain novel means whereby the successive removal of the sheets, platesor the like planiform-fashion from the stack may be efiected in someselected number (as one, two, three or more) at a time, and no more,notwithstanding adhesion or some other such influence may otherwise beadapted to cause the advance with the sheet or sheets intended at anytime to be advanced of a sheet or sheets not so intended to be advanced.

Given a support for a plurality of superposed sheets, one part ofmyinvention consists in a sheet-pushing device movable against'an edgeof the sheet or sheets next to the support and in a path substantiallyparallel with and having its sheet-pushing portion above thesheet-supporting plane of the support, together with means to move thecorresponding edge of the next sheet away from said support and clear ofsaid path during the pushing movement of said device, whereby the saidnext sheet will not be affected by said device. Given said support andmeans for removing from the pile of sheets planiform-fashion and in agiven direction the sheet or sheets next adjoining the support, anotherpart of my invention consists in a sheet-abutment arranged close to theside of the pile facing said direction and s fending toward thepile-supporting plane of the support but being spaced therefrom adistance exceeding the combined thicknesses of the sheet or sheets beingremoved and the next sheet, together with means for moving said nextsheet into posi tion to be opposed by said abutment, whereby the advanceof said next sheet will be positively prevented. By this, the second,part of my invention, the selective advance of the sheets in the precisenumber at a time as predetermined is possible in either he case whereall of the sheets in a run are so thin that two or more at a time mightotherwise pass the abutment when a less number (alone positivelysubjected to the advancing action) are intended to do so, or in the casewhere the thicknesses of the sheets in a run vary and make thiscondition possible only occasionally.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of theimproved apparatus; Fig. 2 a plan thereof; Fig. 3 a lefthand-endelevation; Figs. 4: and 5 vertical sectional views'illustrating two ofthe steps occurring in the operation of the improved apparatus; and,Fig. 6 illustrates a certain suction-control valve.

In the said drawings, a is a table or other support on which the pile orstack A of sheets is placed, the sheets of the stack lying horizontally.In a groove 6 in the support a and extending under the stackreciprocates a bar 0 having a single tooth (Z serving, in the movementsof the bar to the right in Fig. 1, to remove the sheets at the bottom ofthe stack from under the remainder, depositing them at the right ofthestack, say against an abutment e. In the present adaptation, the sheetsare removed from the stack one by one.

A suitable hopper for the pile may beformed by the upright walls 7 andthe upright wall 9 situated in opposite relation to each other at theside edges of the pile, and by the walls It and i, converging downwardly(as by wall 2' being inclined) so that as the" sheets descend in thehopper they will be trued to a definite position in the line of travelof the tooth 0!. Walls 7 are a part of a bracket j which is adjustableon the support toward and from wall It; wall It is a part of a bracket70 secured on the support, and wall 21 a part of the bracket 7'; andwall 9 is a part of a horizontal plate Z which is bolted to bracket 70and stands parallel to and slightly spaced from the top surface ofsupport a. In Fig. 3 clearance is shown between the bottom of wall 7:.and the support, affording an outlet from the hopper for the sheet beingremoved; as will appear, wall it serves as a stop to prevent the rest ofthe stack partaking in the removing movement.

m is an opening formed in the support a under the near left hand cornerof the stack in Fig. '1 and in vertical alinement with and below whichis secured to a part of the support a cylinder 72 in which slides aplunger 0 normally pressed upwardly by a spiral spring 10 coiled in thecylinder between the plunger and a screw 9 tapped into the bottom of thecylinder. The upper end of the plunger 0 carries a suction deviceconsisting of a rubber suction cup 1', adapted to bear against thatcorner of the lowermost sheet which is unsupported on account of theopening m. The air is exhausted from this cup through the means 3 inwhich is located the suction-control device shown in Fig. 6. In thisfigure t is a spring-pressed valve normally held in its casing u by itsspring in the position shown in Fig. 2, where its port Z) establishesthe communication between the pump of the apparatus and the suction cup,and movable to a position where said port connects the suction cup withthe atmosphere.

Meshing with the toothed under side of bar 0 is a toothed segment tocarried by a shaft or arranged to rock in a bearing y and carrying acrank 2 which is connected with a suitably rotated disk 2 by a pitman 2.Thus, when the disk rotates the bar 0 is reciprocated.

In suitable guides 3 slides a bar 4 having rack teeth 5 meshing with asegment 6 on the lower end of a shaft 7 journaled in the support a, theupper end of said shaft carrying a knife or blade 8 constituting apositive separator for the sheets. On the upper end of shaft 7 is alsofixed a cam 9 adapted to bear against the head of the valve 25 to movethe same out of the position in which it is normally held by its spring.

The under side of the blade 8 is flat, and the blade rests flatwise uponthe top surface of the table a. It is shown in its retracted position inFig. 2. Its acting edge is obtuse-angular, the apex 10 of the anglebeing so disposed that when the blade wipes toward the stack of sheetssaid apex will cross the line representing the near side of the stack inFig. 2 near its left hand end. From the apex 1O backwardly for asuitable distance the top surface of the blade rises, as by heveling theangular edge of the blade, thus giving it a cam-face. The plate Z servesas a guard as well as a guide for the blade.

The bar 4 is reciprocated from a bell-crank lever 11 which bears uponthe periphery of the disk 2, the same having a hump 12 making it a cam,through the medium of a pitman 13 pivotally connecting the rod andlever, the lever 11 being held against the cam by the spring 4: shown inFig. 1.

14- is a cam-piece secured to bar iand adapted to impinge against aroller 15 on a stud which projects from the plunger through slot 17 inthe cylin 18 is an. elastic foot which presses upon is to the right andof bar 1- to the left.

the sheet being emoved, offering sufiicient resistance for ir uring itsproper placement at or near abutment 6.

Operation: The working thrust of bar 0 Bar 0, through its teeth (Z, actsto ad ance the lowermost sheet from the stack, as already indicated; bar4 is a part of the mechanism whose function it is, preparator T to theadvance of a sheet, to fix that sheet, and that only, as the one whichis to be advanced. As the tooth d moves toward the right the blade 8 isswung toward the stack, while the suction cup acts to pull down theunsupported front left-hand corner of the lowest sheet. A. space(formerly occupied by such corner of the lowermost sheet, Fig. 1) willbe thus presented to the apex 10 of the blade, enabling it, as the bladecontinues its movement, to enter under the second. sheet. As the bladewipes under the stack it elevates it, due to the cam-face on its upperside. This elevating serves, primarily, to clear the stack from the pathof movement of tooth (Z, which now engages the left-hand edge of thelowermost sheet, pushing it forward to abutment e, clear of the stack.In the pres-- ent instance, the elevating of the stack by the blade al oserves in preventing adhesion between the sheet to be advanced and thenext sheet from being the cause of the latter sheet advancing with thefirst, thus: The outlet 19 (under wall it) is calculated to let pass thethickest sheet which be encountered. When the blade 8 ele ates thestack, therefore, it does so sufficiently so that the sheet immediatelyresting thereupon is raised too high to enter the outlet, and wall ittherefore holds it against advance (liig. 5).

The suction control. is so timed and oper ated that the suction cupremains active until the blade has overlapped the plate, whereupon theatmosphere is admitted to the cup through port r, so that the cup willnot exert a drag on the sheet when it is removed from the stack; whenthe cup rises and impinges against the next sheet the suction isreestablished. The suction control is of course under the influence ofthe cam 9, moving with blade 8.

It will be understood, as hereinbefore intimated, that my invention doesnot exclude the advance of the sheets, if desired, in nu1nbers of morethan one at a time, and that the advance of the sheets in such a manner(more than one at a time) depends, first, on whether tooth (Z extendssuiliciently high to positively engage the predetermined number ofsheets at time, and, second, on the separating action effected by thesuction device and blade 8, the former of which in various ways mightaccomplish the primary tion fro 1 the stack of more than one a forinstance, if every ""other sheet were formed or arranged so as to exposeto the suction device the next sheet above.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desireto secure by Letters Patent is 1. In combination, a support for aplurality of superposed sheets, a sheet-pushing device movable in a pathsubstantially parallel with the sheet-supporting plane of said supportand having its sheet-pushing portion arranged above said plane andadapted to engage one edge of and push the lowest sheet or sheetsplaniform fashion clear of the sheet above, means to shift said edge ofthe lowest sheet or sheets from, and thereby form a marginal spacebetween the same and the sheet above and means, enterable into saidspace, to move the corresponding edge of the latter sheet away from saidsupport and clear of said path during the pushing movement of saiddevice:

2. In combination, with a support for a pile of sheets, means forremoving from the pile planiform-fashion and in a given direction thesheet or sheets next adjoining the support, a sheet-abutment arrangedclose to the side of the pile facing said direction and extending towardthe pile-supportingplane of said support but being spaced from saidplane a distance exceeding the com:

bined thi cknesses of the sheet or sheets being removed and thenext'sheet, and means for moving said next sheet intoposition to beopposed by said abutment.

-3. In a feeding device for sheets, pamphlets and the like, thecombination of means forming a stationary magazine for the members to befed, a suction device movable to engage one corner of the lowermostmember to be fed, means to move the suction device downward with thelowermost member whereby the corner of the from, of a longitudinallyreciprocable plate at the bottom of said magazine for supporting andfeeding the lowermost member therefrom, a suction device movable intoand out of position to engage one corner of the lowermost member to befed, and a finger disposed at the same corner and movable into positionbetween the lowermost sheet and the other sheets when the lowermostsheet is drawn by the suction means.

6. In a feeding device for sheets, pamphlets and the like, thecombination with means forming a magazine for the members to be fed, ofa longitudinally reciprocable supporting and feeding plate at the bottomof the magazine, a suction device movable to'engage the lowermost sheetat one corner and to bend the corner of said sheet from the othersheets, a finger movable between the lowermost sheet and the othersheets,

and means to operate the finger and the suction means simultaneously.

7. In a feeding device for sheets, pamphlets and the like, thecombination with a longitudinally reciprocable plate, of a suctiondevice for engaging and bending one corner of the lowermost sheetdownwardly, a finger movable into and out of position between thelowermost member and the other members, and driving mechanism havingconnection with the said finger, suction means, and the reciprocableplate for moving them simultaneously in their proper relations.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

AMOS CALLESON. Witnesses:

F. H. Moses, CHARLES C. BURGIO.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner or ratenl,

Washington, D. G."

